Two weeks (oops, almost!) of wearing this Masai cloth and its challenges has revealed one truth: even though change is constant and we are always advised to embrace it, it’s human nature to resist it because it demolishes our comfort zones and doesn’t guarantee whether we will sink or swim once it’s taken its course. [...]
Friday 16th Oct, grocery shopping at the Obs spa, night
Tonight, I went to buy some groceries at the Obs Spa, in my Masai cloth. The spa was sparsely ‘populated’ by shoppers. They went about their own business and even when i was queueing to pay, no one enquired about my attire/ no security guard asked me to step aside to be searched for possible [...]
The novelty has worn off
Ok, since Saturday I lost the motivation for wearing the Masai outfit. I feel that after a week of wearing it from home to school and back, the ‘shock’ factor is gone. In ‘addressing the body’ chapter in the crit con reader about Polhemus’s contribution to the ‘dress, embodiment and habitus’, subsection, says, ”The mixing [...]
Day 5
Today, I experienced a relapse. I didn’t want to wrap that cloth again over my body. I still feel ‘naked’ without my usual jeans and t-shirt combination. I reckon as an urban resident most of my life, I’m a victim of media images where anything traditional is downgraded and what is supposedly ‘modern’ is uplifted. [...]
Day 4
Got a few stares in my ‘dress’ walking from school to Sea Point library in the afternoon. These reactions are covered on pg 53 of the reader: “The plasticity of the body allows this material exercise of power through the inscription on the body of the standards, norms and disciplinary judgements of society.” But there [...]
Sorry, no radio/video files
Hi Franci. For me to upload music/video files, i have 2 buy a ‘space upgrade’ from wordpress! That means the audio comments by Samba and Conrad in addition to the video Mavan took won’t be available. True, free is expensive.
Day 3
This morning was wet and I didn’t want to risk getting my cloth wet, so i ‘protected’ it until i reached college. When I wore it, reactions ranged from ‘You looking good festus (or something close)’ by Carla, head of campus, to ‘That’s definitely out of my comfort zone,’ by Adderley of first year, to [...]
Day 2 reflections
Breaking news: My hsemate’s photos that he took of me today at Obs stn and my boarding the train got spoilt by his k** camera! The fears i had about how people would judge me based on my appearance proved valid, according to some passages in the ‘Dress and the body’ article in the reader. [...]
